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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781392">A Time Bomb</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteYourOwnEnding/pseuds/WriteYourOwnEnding'>WriteYourOwnEnding</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Derek Hale is a Failwolf, Fluff, Gen, One Shot, Scott is a Good Friend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:48:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25781392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteYourOwnEnding/pseuds/WriteYourOwnEnding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What actually happens when Derek tries to kick Stiles out of the pack?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Scott McCall &amp; Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>94</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Time Bomb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ok, Scott isn’t stupid. Occasionally oblivious, yes. Not up to par with Lydia’s genius IQ, or Stiles’ nearly eidetic memory and penchant for research binges, obviously. And he can’t really compete with Derek’s encyclopaedic knowledge of supernatural bullshit, or Peter’s irritating habit of knowing something crucial at just the right time. But he has a fair understanding of anything he needs to learn to pass classes, and more importantly, he understands people. Knows that sometimes they suck (thanks for that lesson dad), but sometimes they have a near never-ending capacity for strength and compassion (Thanks Mom).</p>
<p>So he doesn’t really get it when Derek and Lydia, Derek and Lydia, two of the supposedly smartest people he knows, suggest that Stiles can’t be pack.</p>
<p>Ok, Derek, he understands in a distant, wounded animal kind of way. Derek is still emotionally functioning as a terrorized, violated and desperate 16 year old kid who just lost everything by trusting the wrong person. Stiles doesn’t fit into his world view. Isn’t strength like a wolf is, doesn’t have knowledge like his uncle or his mom did, so Derek can’t quite pigeon-hole him into strength or weakness like he wants to. And Derek very much lives by if it’s not a strength, it’s a weakness.</p>
<p>But Lydia? She should at least understand the value of tactical brilliance. Of unwavering loyalty and dependability. She should understand that all the strength and brains in the world doesn’t add up to shit if you can’t rely on it when you need it.</p>
<p>And ok, she did spend most of middle school and high school trying to avoid those kinds of entanglements. She spent a long time fabricating a veneer of dumb-bimbo-don’t look at me-not a threat. It didn’t breed loyalty (except, of course, from Stiles). So maybe she wasn’t used to someone who was there when everyone else left. That was…lonely.</p>
<p>But Scott had always understood. Had learned what it meant to have someone you could rely on when he lost that in his father. Had learned that it wasn’t a guarantee that someone was always going to be in your corner, that you couldn’t trust that you wouldn’t be facing something alone. Learned it when his mom stopped buying name brand cereal and cut out all the tv channels he didn’t watch, even the few she watched religiously after a crap day when she needed to wind down. Had learned when she attacked the car with a roll of duct tape and the fallen off driver-side mirror because no one else was going to fix it, and she couldn’t afford to pay for it. Marriage vows and bloodlines and promises meant nothing when you turned to look and only saw dust tracks.</p>
<p>So to suggest that a brand new, wet-behind the ears, still learning the ropes and how to control himself Isaac meant more, was more important, worth more, than a kid who had stood a full 8 inches shorter in front of the 5th grade’s worst bully and punched him in the solar plexus like the Sherriff taught him to get Scott’s homework back…It didn’t make sense. A pack without Stiles wasn’t a pack – it was a time bomb.</p>
<p>And only Stiles would get that Avengers reference, because he’d made Scott watch it every night for a week straight when Scott had casually mentioned he didn’t think the Green Lantern movie was all that bad.</p>
<p>So when Derek and Lydia suggested that maybe Stiles should go home, Scott frowned in bewilderment, and didn’t argue because why? Why should he? If they couldn’t see Stiles’ value and worth, they surely weren’t wanting Scott for the right reasons. Stiles seemed to look at him a little betrayed, till he frantically grabbed his bag and Scott followed suit.</p>
<p>Everyone seemed a little shocked that Scott was leaving with Stiles, which again, why? They’d been following each other around since they were 6 years old and Scott shared his Oreos at snack time. Since Stiles had listened carefully when Melissa explained again what Scott was supposed to do if he couldn’t breathe properly. Since Melissa had given up giving the inhaler to Scott, because in a panic he could never find it, but Stiles could put his hand on it instantly at any given time, and was always right there anyway. Why would it be a shock that Scott wasn’t abandoning his best friend now?</p>
<p>Scott shrugged off the question, because if Stiles didn’t know by now that Scott wasn’t going anywhere without him, then obviously, another Avengers marathon was in order, and threw his arm around Stiles’ shoulders on their way out of the loft.</p>
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